How many days to spend in Paris/Normandy, etc...

Kathleen,

I'll provide a few general comments now, but it would help to know a few more specifics regarding your trip. As you'll be travelling with teenagers, I suspect their attention span might be somewhat "limited" for Museums, Art galleries, etc. Also, where will you be going in Germany? Is there any flexibility in your time allotment for France?

I'd recommend at least four days in Paris, as there's so MUCH to see. I'd strongly recommend a Paris Museum Pass, perhaps the two day version. Check their web site for a description on which sites it covers and the current cost. At the least, it will help you avoid long queues to get into the sites.

Some places you might want to visit in Paris - the Eiffel Tower of course (be prepared to queue for a while and decide whether you want to pay extra to go right to the top), Musee d'Orsay (one of my favourites!), the Louvre (you might want to focus on just the Denon wing, if you're interested in seeing the Mona Lisa - for short visits it's not practical to see all three wings), Notre Dame and possibly the Arc de Triomphe (the view of Paris from the top is incredible - great place to get photos of the Eiffel Tower at night with the strobes flashing!).

DON'T hire a Car in Paris! Use the Metro, it's wonderfully efficient! I'd use the train to and from Normandy. These leave from Gare St. Lazare - use the Metro to get there from whichever area of Paris you're staying. I'd recommend basing yourself in Bayeux, as it's a wonderful small town and you can see the Tapestry also. Caen is another choice.

If you're interested in tours of the D-Day sites, I'd highly recommend BattleBus tours. They're a bit pricey but provide outstanding tours, and I think your group would find these very worthwhile (perhaps the American highlights tour). They depart from Bayeux. You might want to pre-book for such a large group, as they book up very quickly at times.

continued....

It sounds to me as though you have a good handle on things generally.

My stock response to a question like yours is, "as much time as possible." For the Norman part of your trip, with a crowd and including the beaches and Mt. St. Michel, I think you will need at least three days and if you want to explore you would not run out of things to see and do with more time. MSM is crowded at high season and I think the strategy of arriving in late afternoon, spending the night, and then leaving late morning would be particularly worthwhile. If so, reserve rooms well in advance.

One possible place to return your car is Rouen, a Norman city with a lot of charm and history that is n the rail line to Paris. Return the car in the morning, do the self-guided walking tour, grab some bread and cheese and picnic on the train. You will have to transfer between stations in Paris, though.

Since you don't say what sorts of things you and yours enjoy (except for MS Michel), it's hard to make suggestions, so I will suggest investing in a couple of guidebooks and spreading them around, with the idea to set some priorities so that everyone gets to see something they really want.

Your Paris picks are all winners but there is so much more to see depending on your interests. Two days seems like short shrift to me, but of course you should suit yourselves.

Have a really great trip.

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Mt. St. Michel is a bit more problematic. There is public transportation available, but the timing would be a bit more challenging. One option might be to hire a Car for one day from Bayeux just for the trip to Mt. St. Michel. If the group was interested, you could also visit the Gun Batteries at Longues sur Mer (just outside Bayeux) if you have the time. I rented a Car there, which was somewhat of an "experience" as no one at the rental agency could speak English. Fortunately, the very helpful staff at the Hotel made the arrangements for me. Overall, it worked out quite well.

On the trip to Germany, I'd return to Paris and then use the TGV to Frankfurt (reservations will be compulsory - arrange that before you leave Paris for Normandy). Travel at 300 kmH is an interesting experience!

Your idea to fly "open jaw" into Paris and home from Frankfurt is exactly the method I'd use. Both are major airports, so you should have no problem finding lots of flights.

One point though, you might want to pre-arrange a Van for the trip from Paris CDG to the city. Check Rick's book for details on the firms that provide this service.

Good luck and happy travels!

Ken, I want to take the kids to some of the places I went when I was stationed in Germany: mostly around the Mosel river and Rhine river areas. Specific places I've definately decided to take them: Cochem castle, Burg Eltz, St. Goar, Trier, Idar-Oberstein, Traben-Trarbach, Dachau, Cologne, and Rothenburg. I haven't yet made up my mind to go to Neuswanstein (sp?), or the Black Forest area. Oh, and I also want to take them to a German movie theater I used to go to in Landstuhl if it's still there and Europa Park. I plan to mainly stay in the Rhineland-Pfalz area. Oh, and I want to take them on at least one volksmarch since that's what I spent 90% of my time there doing when I lived there.

I was reading through France Guide that they send out when you request information and it had an article about the TGV, think the kids would get a kick out of riding it.

Adam, I'm not sure if the museum pass would be a good idea because of the kids. Not sure they'd want to see many museums.

Kathleen,

As you're planning to visit Dachau, that means you'll be spending at least a day or two in the Munich area. If that's the case then a visit to Neuschwanstein and Hohenschwangau would be very easy. I used Radius Tours to visit both Dachau and the Castles, as I felt that a guided tour would provide a lot more information and a "richer experience" than just seeing them on my own, and I wasn't disappointed! Munich is also a wonderful city to explore, but of course with all the places you want to visit, I suspect time will be a factor.

I'm assuming that you're using Rick's France and Germany books to plan your trip (lots of great suggestions there on places to stay, etc.).

Cheers!

Ken, I'm waiting for the 2009 guidebooks to be available before I buy them. I have an old 2007 Europe through the Backdoor book, though.

I second the choice of using Battlebus Tours, and you do need to make a reservation with them ahead of time. They are very popular, so I would do it as soon as possible.

Your trip through Germany sounds great, especially visiting places where you used to be stationed. With all those teens traveling with you, have you thought about visiting Berlin? This city with its Cold War past and importance thru history is a also a lot of fun. My daughter, who is now 18, loved it there. It is so vibrant and exciting and there is so much to see and do there. It is very near Potsdam which has the fabulous Sans Soucci palace and also quite near the Sachsenhausen Concentration Camp. Both very worthwhile places to visit. Seeing the Brandenburg Gate, the Wall, and the Holocaust Memorial are just a few of the high points there.

Landstuhl and Ramstein are going to be bustling places with the hospital and base located there. I hope you get to find all the places you were looking for.

Kathleen, I didn't say anything about a museum pass. I hope you have a great time.

oh, sorry Adam, that was Ken.

Hello Kathleen. For your transportation from Paris to Germany, I recommend travel in a high-speed train from Paris to Koblenz in Germany, and ride in a train from Koblenz to a small town where you will have overnight accomodation. I guess a car can be rented at Koblenz, but I think travelling in trains is satisfactory along the Rhine River and Mosel River. (I was a tourist there). For a motor vehicle to be big enough for the people in your group (6 people ?) and their baggage, you would need to rent a Volkswagon mini bus. I liked the 3 mile walk from the MoselKern train station to the castle Burg Eltz. A variety of things to see, in that 3 mile walk : beautiful modern German - style houses, children playing on a grass lawn in a park, the path through the forest is pleasant, and I saw happy and wholesome young adult German people in the restaurant that is at the end of the paved road. Walkers can sit and rest at a picnic table at the side of the trail, in the shade of trees near a brook (stream). Walking back from the castle to the MoselKern train station, I stopped at the restaurant to buy a small bottle of water. All of the German people I met in that part of Germany were friendly and in a good mood. And, I recommend visiting both Berg Eltz and the Castle Marksburg. (Marksburg is a better castle than Burg Eltz). Marksburg is on top of a hill at the pleasant little town Braubach, located at the east side of the Rhine River. Public transportation to Braubach from Koblenz : busses are more frequent than trains. There were no busses on Sundays, when I was there. This castle can be toured only with a guide, in a group of 20 people. Reserve your tickets for the tour, before you leave the U.S.A. A guide talking in English is not necessary. A good description of the interior of Marksburg is in the travel guide book "Rick Steves' GERMANY & AUSTRIA". At Marksburg's ticket counter ask for a free map (English language) of the interior of the castle. Beautiful views of forest.

In GERMANY : Along the Rhine River, between Koblenz and Bingen, the views from the railroad are better than the views from the cars road.

My teen daughter loved Ste Chapelle, so I would add that to your Paris list if possible. Also the Stravinsky Fountain near the Pompidou center. In Germany, we very much enjoyed the Black Forest Open Air Museum [Vogtsbauernhof] which we did on the RS Germany/Austria/Switz tour; it's a collection of old farmhouses from the Black Forest over several centuries, so you can see how houses changed depending on where and when they were built. Others on the tour had a great time at the baths in Baden-Baden, but we were wimps and did the funicular instead. I am surprised by the comment from your TA about crossing the border with a car - we had no problems on our trip, though we did start and end in Germany. You may want to check a couple of rental companies and see if it makes a difference. However, I agree that a train trip will be fun and different, and may well be easier with 6 people and bags for the long trip; then you could pick up a car for a few days in Germany to see the sights on your list.
Have a wonderful time!

P.S. with such a large group, you might consider renting an apartment rather than hotel rooms [especially if we can convince you to stay for a third day in Paris]. I have used VRBO in the United States, and there are a number of posts on the Helpline that suggest apartment rental firms; I just looked at some possibilities on vacationinparis.com which was recommended farther down this topic.
Best wishes from another Kathleen-

Your trip sounds too messy to me. My gosh, Paris needs perhaps two weeks alone and a year would be better, not 3 days. Slow down, stay in one perhaps two countries and 6 cities...soak it up. Don't let your memories become a blur.
When in Paris, I'd miss Notre Dam and visit Sainte-Chapelle....a most ethereal magical gem. And yes, Musee D'Orsay is incredible. Le Madelaine is also quite a stop on your list.
Sometimes just wandering around certain neighborhoods is better than planning each day, but you probably know that. Public transportation is easiest...no maps, fuel stops, etc. The trains work quite well all over Europe.
Have a great trip.

Bonnie, I don't understand, I was only planning on 2 countries. Most of the time spent in one area of Germany.

Kathleen, thanks for the apartment link, we may stay in one, seems to be cheaper. We may have a 7th person going with us now, one of my daughter's friends.

In case you go to Berlin, here is an apt. service that I used last year that I was very happy with.

www.berlin-bed.com

Another service that I havent used yet, but that looks good is this one:

http://www.bed-and-breakfast.de/index_en.asp

With all those kids, having an apt is going to be a lot easier than a hotel, and cheaper too. It is nice going to the grocery store and getting drinks, snacks, etc.

Hi Kathleen. My wife and I went to Europe back in 2001 and flew into London and then took a cheap jet ride from London to Paris. We spent 3 days in Paris and went to the Eiffel Tower, which we loved, Notre Dame, Musee D'Orsay, rode the boat down the Seine which allowed us to get on and get off so we used it as a water taxi, Sainte Chappell, and enjoyed walking to the Arch d'triomphe area. We used the subway and found it to be very user friendly and easy. We had a great lunch at a sidewalk cafe along St. Germain. We took a train out to Versailles and then rented a car there to drive through the French countryside. It was very easy to drive in France. We visited Chartres Cathedral, and then drove through the wine area around Macon and then down to Aix-en-Provence where we left the car and rode the night train to Rome. We are planning a return trip to France for next fall and we too want to go to Normandy and out to Mont St. Michel. We stayed at a great little B&B near Chartres (in a village called Blevy, I think) and we would love to return there too.